Hi devlux,
It looks like you are doing something really big here.
But before I make any further comments I'd like to make sure I understand it correctly:
Will the ATM/Payment Kiosk be able to accept and dispense fiat cash?
Assuming the answer is positive:
1. What is the most obvious use case for your kiosks? Where would you see the very first instances to be installed? I guess they are meant to be kept inside the premises of an existing business (e.g. a small shop or a bar) as opposed to being installed in the street (where the security issues are much higher). Could you shed some light on that?
2. Will I be able to top up my BitShares wallet with 100 bitUSD by inserting a 100 USD banknote? And the opposite way: will I be able to get a 100 USD banknote by sending 100 bitUSD to the kiosk?
3. How reliable is your firmware at distinguishing between valid banknotes and counterfeit ones?
Also, could you explain the difference between 1-way and 2-way versions? What does 2-way version do that 1-way doesn't?
#1 Yes indoor only, they are not water proof.
#2 Yes
#3 It's a major manufacturer who specializes in bill acceptors for casinos. So we hope it's pretty good, but we haven't tested with fakes ourselves.
#4 1-way money goes in, asset comes out. 2-way includes one way functionality but allows you to dispense cash.
That's really great stuff.
I'd like to understand how you envision the business model for these machines.
Let's assume my company becomes a distributor of your machines and we manage to convince a local shop to install one of them on their premises.
Who will be responsible for maintaining the appropriate number of banknotes in the machine: my company or the shop owner?
Because of the flexibility of the machines we expect there to be a lot of business models that crop up around them.
It will really depend on you, the purchaser and what you want to arrange. The local laws in your area will probably impact this quite a bit.
For example, in SoCal the bulk of these machines will be deployed to replace existing Skyhooks.
The law in California is changing. It will soon be very hard to operate a crypto ATM there. This is major reason we went with the gift card thing.
The law says that soon you won't be able to deal in virtual currency without a special license.
This could kill the existing ATM operators.
Simplicity allows you to sell electronic gift cards and codes which are not something that falls under this regulation.
One of our exchange partners is providing codes that can be loaded to your exchange account, or if you already have an account there, the credit will be direct. That provider is not in the USA and so doesn't fall under the money transmitter business guidelines. You are selling codes that we are acquiring from outside sources and we are not a US company, thus not subject to US Federal Jurisdiction let alone any US State. We believe it would be the same thing as selling a gift card for Alibaba or Amazon in this case or at worst a PayPal MyCash card.
One of our earliest customers is using this principle to sell codes that are exchangeable directly for ounces of gold and silver at a real gold depository in San Diego. These codes cannot be faked, they correspond to serialized gold and silver numismatic instruments on deposit. Their ownership is tracked directly on the block chain. You can go to the depository at any time and physically retrieve your actual metals, or ask for them to be shipped to you at any time.
However you can also transfer ownership the same way you would any other UIA.
This reseller's model revolves around providing the depository with free equipment, placement and service in exchange for a per sale fee of a couple of dollars. They aren't really touching any other crypto. However the depository will now have hundreds of outlets around the San Diego area without the risk associated from holding gold or other precious metals in a retail environment.
That is just one business model.
A distributor can set their own prices and make their own arrangements with the place where the devices are situated.
In mexico near the border areas they are being marketed as a "casa de cambio" for small offices.
It's getting harder and harder for anything but the smallest businesses to deal with USD here.
Once amounts begin to exceed $300 USD a whole different set of laws apply now days.
Come here for a medical appointment. You might need to pay $500 USD for the visit and service.
The solution is to use Simplicity in "collection mode" and turn off "exchange mode"
This way you just stick your dollars in the machine and the Dr's office gets pesos to their account. This is handled in conjunction with a Mexican bitcoin exchange. The machine owner and the Dr both have an account at the same exchange. Each time money is put in the machine, the machine contacts the exchange and does a transfer to the Dr's exchange account for X dollars worth of BTC which is then automatically converted by the exchange into Y pesos.
In this case the machine owner has a route that they service on a regular basis. These aren't used in a typical mode, the user can't just walk in stick in dollars and get BTC. There is nothing hardware or software wise preventing the owner, but they configured it this way because it suits their business model.
The distributor in the area does nothing other than sell the machines to the route owner who then services his own machines.
Other areas might be different. It's quite possible to be owner, reseller & distributor. Master distributorships exist for the same reason master franchisers exist. Warranty service points and a single place to ship a large number of units. They aren't there to sell individual units, but to bring on distributors.
Regional distributors and resellers are allowed to customize their offering to whatever suits their fancy.
This includes putting up their own front end and even provisioning isolated backends or replacing the backend all together.
The profit depends on the business model of the company doing the distribution.
In short it's your company and your product, you should do whatever makes you the most profit!
Topic: bitUSD ATM/Kiosk (Read 12665 times)
